


Follow The Leader

by Windify



Series: The Katana Chronicles [16]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Leadership, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 22:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30062541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windify/pseuds/Windify
Summary: “I don’t wanna anyone else,” Mikey said softly. He turned his face away from his brothers to look in the direction Leo disappeared. “Leo is our leader. I don’t want to change it.”
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Series: The Katana Chronicles [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099514
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	Follow The Leader

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something I couldn’t get out of my head.

“Hurry up, guys, you’re slacking!”

“Maybe you should slow down, then!” yelled Raph. 

“We're turtles, we're supposed to be slow!” added Mikey. 

“That's not quite accurate,” grumbled Don. 

Leonardo looked over his shoulder at his brothers. “But we’re also ninjas, Mikey, and not slow. Not on my watch. Besides, if you have the energy to talk, you have the energy to run faster.”

He chuckled as his brothers groaned, but slowed down after a few more passed buildings and stopped on the last rooftop of the block. 

They landed next to him, waiting patiently. “And yame!” Leo ordered, chuckling once again as they loosened their stances, Mikey exaggeratedly leaning against Raph. “Come on, guys, it wasn’t that long.”

Raph threw his arms. “It was supposed to be short warm up run!”

He grinned at them. “You are warm now, aren’t you?”

“I’m not sure how you expect me to train after this, man,” Mikey groaned. 

Leonardo rolled his eyes and shook his head. They could train – and would do it if he said so – but he had planned something a little different. “We actually won’t train tonight.”

“What?” they all asked in surprise. “We won’t?” Don added. 

“No.”

They stared at him, unbelieving. “Who’re you and what’ve ya done to our brother?” Raph asked, eyes narrowed, pointing a sai at him.

“Oh, come on, I’m not that bad!” Leo protested and they merely giggled.

“You are,” Don grinned.

“But that’s whatever,” Mikey said, afraid that the leader would change his mind if they kept teasing him. “If we’re not training tonight, that what’re we doing?”

“Tonight, we’ll take it easy and play Hide and Seek. Because for the next three days, we’ll play another game. And no, it’s not Ninja Tag.” Leonardo paused, very aware that he had his brothers’ full attention. “We’ll play Follow the Leader.”

Michelangelo fell off Raphael, shoving Donatello in that process. The two older brothers didn’t seem to notice, though. “What?” they once again asked in unison, nearly shrieked as if they didn’t believe what they were hearing.

Leonardo frowned. He expected different reactions, much more different. Enthusiasm, perhaps, or quick argument about which one of them will be better. His brothers weren’t supposed to freeze and stare at him as if he lost his mind. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d like it. We hadn’t played it in ages.”

Not since Splinter named Leo the leader, to be precise. That was _years_ ago and from that time on, no one had ever suggested the game. Why would they play at leading when they had actual leader? Especially when Leo did his job right?

Finally, Don slowly nodded. “We hadn’t, that’s right. But…”

“But why?” Mikey got up to his feet, scratching the top of his head nervously. “You’re the leader, dude, leading’s your job.” 

“It is,” Leo agreed, “but I thought we could change our routine.” He looked at his red-banded brother. “I was under the impression that especially you would like it, Raph.”

His tone was far from accusing, but there was a hinted sadness that immediately made the three younger turtles feel bad. Leo looked really delighted with his suggestion, only for them to turn him down like this.

Raphael clicked his tongue. “I like it.” The lie slipped from his mouth easily and for once Leo didn’t realize he wasn’t telling the truth. Donatello and Michelangelo, though, that was another story. “I was just. Surprised. That’s it.”

“So?” Leo tilted his head to one side. “What do you think? Raph would start, then Mikey, and Don the last day.”

The three looked at each other, then back at Leo. Mikey shifted his weight nervously: “So one of us will take your role for the whole day? On patrol, training…?”

Leo laughed, the tension in his shoulders draining away. “Well, that’s what Follow the Leader is about, isn’t it? The rules are the same as when we were younger, this is just extended version that lasts the whole day instead of few hours.”

“Okay,” Donatello nodded hesitantly. “Okay.”

“Finally I can boss ya around, Fearless,” Raph grinned, even though saying the words _stung_.

The blue ninja chuckled because _that_ was the reaction he expected. “Tomorrow, Raph. Tonight we still have Hide and Seek. Mikey, you’re it. Usual rules, stay within three block radius and count to twenty. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Then let’s begin.” And with that, Leonardo was gone, swiftly moving away to hide. Yet the other three turtles stayed on the same roof, listening closely to know that he was really gone.

“What the fuck,” Raph hissed, perfectly summarizing what they all thought.

“Dudes,” Mikey breathed out. “I don’t want to play Follow the Leader. What’s going on? Have we not been listening to him lately or what? Raph, what did you do?”

The hothead glared at him. “I didn’t do anythin’! I don’t want to play that stupid game either, genius!”

Don shook his head and stepped between them. “Calm down, will you? With that volume not only Leo’ll hear us but half of the New York with him.”

“But why’d Leo want to play Follow the Leader?” Michelangelo urged, gripping Don’s arm. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, Mikey.” Don shook him off, gritting his teeth in frustration. He hated when he didn’t know something. “We hadn’t played it since Master Splinter said _Leo_ is the leader. It was – is pointless to play it when we have leader, right?” Mikey and Raph nodded, so he continued: “Then why would we need to lead?”

“I don’t want to change anything,” Raph mumbled, avoiding their eyes. “I – listen, I give him a hard time, but I don’t want to lead. Not really, not anymore.” He clenched his fists. “If you tell him I said this, I’ll kill you.”

Donatello rolled his eyes. “Of course.” Then he became more serious. “But you’re right, Raph.”

“I don’t wanna anyone else,” Mikey said softly. He turned his face away from his brothers to look in the direction Leo disappeared. “Leo is our leader. I don’t want to change it.”

“Agree,” Raphael muttered. “But maybe _he_ wants to change it.”

Mikey huffed, the thought more than unpleasant. “Then we’ll just convince him to not do it.”

“Well, we did promise him we’ll play.” Don had his I-came-with-something-brilliant face on, so they shuffled closer to hear him better. “We can’t just call it off now, he’d know something’s wrong. That means that we have three days to show him that he’s the best for the position. When no one can replace him, he can’t step down.”

“That’s a good idea, Donnie,” Mikey started, hesitating, “but wouldn’t it be too suspicious if we all completely failed?”

Raph shrugged. “We can’t fail completely, then. Maybe keep it in the middle, ya know?”

Don nodded. “That’s what I meant.”

“Not like this will be hard,” Mikey mumbled. “I mean – nothing against you, guys, but I really don’t want to be leader. All that’s responsibility and seriousness just isn’t for me. Don, you tend to overthink literally everything and Raph, your solution for any problem are fists and beating.”

“That’s not true!” the red ninja barked. He crossed his hands over his plastron, his eyes shifting away. His two brothers only glared at him. “Okay, it is.”

“See?” Mikey threw his hands. “We’d suck as leaders.”

“That’s far from true, Michelangelo.”

The trio yelped, startled to death by the sudden voice. As the blood in their veins turned cold, they watched as the eldest turtle emerged from the shadows of a rooftop access. The younger turtles stared at him, eyes wide in shock and hands on their weapons.

“What the fuck, Leo?” Raph growled, resisting the urge to jump at his brother for the scare.

“Language, Raphael.”

Donatello slowly slipped his bō staff back on his shell. “How long have you been hiding there?”

He glanced at each of them, blue eyes shining with feelings they couldn’t identify. “Long enough.” His voice was completely unreadable and that unnerved them maybe even more than Leo’s eyes.

Mikey blinked, tucking his nunchucks to his belt. “How did you even –”

“You didn’t start counting. And you two,” Leonardo pointed at Don and Raph, “didn’t run away. I came back to see if something happened, but instead I found out you three plotting how to _fail a game_.” And now he sounded incredulous, like this whole situation was bizzare.

It wasn’t. Not for the three turtles, at least. They were freaking out at the mere thought of Leonardo not wanting to lead them. While they sometimes complained and refused to obey his orders, they really couldn’t imagine anyone else in this position. It would be like Michelangelo inventing instead of Donatello, or Don acting all angry instead of Raphael. That would be so, so _wrong_.

No way. Being their leader was Leonardo’s assigned job. Each of them had one, and changing it would only cause chaos.

Raph narrowed his eyes. “Well –”

“No,” Leo interrupted him, “I’m talking now, Raphael.” The sharpness of his tone cut off any of theirs objections and their shifted, immediately looking on the ground. “You know, right now I’m tempted to resume our training because this all is completely unnecessary. Guys, you know you can always tell me anything, right?”

They nodded. “Of course, Leo,” Donatello assured him.

“Then _why didn’t you ask me_?” Leo groaned. “Although I’m flattered that you don’t want anyone else to be the leader, why didn’t you just ask me again? And I can assure you, I don’t want to give up the position.”

A wave of incredible relief flew through them, but it was quickly replaced with anger. “Well what were we supposed to think?” Don exploded. “It’s not called _Follow the Leader_ for nothing, Leo. We all know that Splinter showed us the game to figure out who should be in charge. Excuse us for freaking out when we haven’t played this in nearly a _decade_.”

Silence fell over them. Donatello’s outbursts of anger were unusual, yet all the more effective. Surprised, Leonardo blinked at him. “Sorry,” the purple-banded turtle mumbled, taking a deep breath.

“It’s alright, Donnie,” Leo said, keeping his voice down in a calming manner. “I get why you worry, guys, I _do_. But we all trust each other, and the trust does include listening and explaining.” The blue ninja looked at them, locking their eyes in his stare. “I want to play Follow the Leader because while I don’t want to give up my position, we have to be able to work in case something happens and I can’t give orders.”

Raph swallowed.“Ya do realize that this’d happen with you either unconscious, injured or… or death, right?” It was clear he didn’t like the idea of ay of this happening, and no one could blame him.

“Most likely, yes,” Leo comfirmed without hesitation. “Which is why we need to test it out. If I’m out of the game, I don’t want you to get hurt because I didn’t prepare us for this situation. And as I said earlier, you all could be leaders – every one of you. You have it in yourself, I know you do. I trust each of you to that you would take the lead if I can’t, because I know you’re _capable_. And I want you to trust yourselves, too. That’s the reason I suggested it. Nothing more, little brothers.”

They looked at each other, silently communicating, analyzing what was said. Leo let them and patiently waited, watching them with a soft smile and mixed feelings. He didn’t lie when he said he was pleased to know they wanted him as their leader. After all, although he didn’t want to admit it, he wouldn’t have any other place in the team if he didn’t have his position – being a leader was all he know, it was his primal instinct just as much as was being the older brother.

Yet, the speed at which they concluded he didn’t want to lead them… that was concerning. Had he done something wrong, something that made them think he doesn’t want to lead them? He didn’t think so, but it seemed he had to work on his leadership skills as well.

“So…” Mikey said finally, “if you really don’t want to step down –”

“I don’t.” He held his head upright and that, together with the firmess in his voice, was enough to assure them he meant it. He saw his three brothers relax, their shoulders dropping.

“Then I think we can try it,” Don finished. “It’ll be like another practice, right?”

“Right,” Leo nodded. Then, to their horror, a wide smile spread on his face. That kind of smile that usually meant practising one kata for three days straight. “Now that we sorted out this matter, let’s resume our training. I changed my mind, no Hide and Seek.”

“What?” they exclaimed loudly. “Why?!”

Leonardo laughed at their expressions. “Because you planned to fail my game. And you know better than that. But, because I’m nice…” He took a step back, then another, then he turned and started running. “If you catch me, we can go home!” he called, already jumping onto another roof, giggling as they groaned and quickly darted after him.

“I’m starting to regret sayin’ I don’t wanna change,” Raph growled. “Dammit, Fearless!”

His two younger brothers shook their heads. “You know we know you don’t mean it, right?” Donatello hummed.

Raphael merely eyed them, them focused his look on Leonardo again. “Still doesn’t change the fact that once I catch him, I’ll strangle him.”

The genius sighed, while Mikey grinned. “But not too much, bro, we still need our leader.”

He said nothing at that. After all, that was the truth and they didn’t want it any other way. And later that night, the three young turtles promised each other that they will make sure it won’t ever change.


End file.
